Spiders
by loonyluna9
Summary: When Harry played a prank on Ron by enlarging a spider, and it chased after him, he hadn't expected Ron to jump into his arms. He hadn't expected himself to catch him either. Or the following awkwardness. Or the part where they leaned in. Or when they...


**UPDATE!UPDATE!UPDATE! (7/18/07)  
**This is a new edited version of Spiders. I didn't add another chapter or anything drastic like that. I was just reading through my reviews and one really stuck to me. Mythikal mentioned that in my fic I explained actions a bit too much and should have just let it flow and stuff like that. Well I went back and reread the whole thing and found out she was right. (Thanks again for that bit of concrit. This new version is going out to you!) So yeah, I went back and tweaked quite a few things, including taking out some stuff and editing the dialogue and descriptions. I personally think this version is a million times better and more enjoyable to read. If you liked the original better though or just want to compare the two, I have a link to it in my profile where it's posted on my freewebs account and where it will always be, permanently. So feel free to give me some feed back on this and see if you can tell the difference between them. Happy reading!

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Author:** loonyluna9

**Title:** Spiders 

**Rating:** T (For some mild cursing...I think. Maybe one. Meh, I can't remember.)

**Dedication:** As always, to anyone who bothers to read and review my stuff. Just saying, "Hey, I like your story." or even just, "Not bad." means a lot to me and lets me know people are actually reading my stuff and that it's not all for nothing. Thank you!

**Disclaimer:** I drank too much Firewhiskey Sunday night and, in a drunken stupor, I actually believed I owned the Potterverse. And that I could fly. I woke up the next morning in the county jail with a broken arm, sitting next to a guy named Nancy, and I reeked of vomit, alcohol, and cottage cheese. And I was late for school. It was then that I realized I didn't and would never own Harry Potter.

**Warnings:** Slash de la Harry/Ron ahead. I'm warning you now. Don't flame me saying, "U bicth! Thats disgusing making Ron n Harry kiss lik that! I ht3 u and ur story!" I will only laugh and mercilessly throw dungbombs at you...and your mom. (Choir: Ooooohh!)

**Quick Ramble:** So I had quite a bit of fun writing this and I'm proud to say I think I may have done a good job on a fic for once. I guess this takes place in the summer before their last year at Hogwarts and they're relatively mature and stuff. Also, this is a one-shot. I flat out refuse to add on to this. I like it the way it is and I'm hoping you will too. So yeah, read and enjoy. : )

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**Spiders  
by loonyluna9**

"I really need to get this cut," Ron sighed, sitting up and resting his pale freckled arms on the knees of his worn blue jeans. He ran a hand through his shaggy mop of hair, groaning as it fell back into his eyes. "I'm going to look like Bill in two or three weeks if I don't."

"It's not _that_ bad," Harry replied from his lax position on the ground. He reached up, taking a lock of Ron's fiery red hair, and lazily twisted it between his fingers. He frowned, thinking.

"Maybe it needs a bit of a trim, but really Ron. It's not that bad."

"But it keeps falling into my eyes and tickling my ears. Hell, I almost walked into a tree once because it was blinding me so bad," the red head crowed indignantly. He pointedly jerked his head back as a passing breeze sent wisps of red hair into his eyes again.

"Well why didn't you push it back then?"

"Hermione told me girls find the whole 'hair-in-the-eyes' thing rather sexy," Ron quipped dryly, earning a loud burst of laughter from his friend. He gave a lop-sided grin and chuckled. "She says it's all the rage amongst Muggles in the states. It's called 'emu' hair or something."

"I think," Harry said after a moment, smiling. "That by 'girls', Hermione really meant only herself."

"Yeah, that barmy girl..." Ron grinned affectionately. He lay back on the ground next to Harry and sprawled his long limbs into a comfortable position, enjoying this lazy Sunday afternoon in the garden.

Another gentle breeze floated by, ruffling both heads of untidy hair. They relaxed in amicable silence as they listened to the birds twittering in the trees and the sounds of dishes clinking from the Burrow's kitchen. Ron smiled pleasantly, reveling in the feeling of the cool grass brushing his fingertips and the smell of something delicious wafting from the house.

Complacent, he peered at the shady oak tree overhead. The long branches swayed in the wind, a rhythmic rustle of leaves mixing with the other sounds of nature around him. Ron frowned slightly however, as he finally noticed the black figure suspended a little more than two feet above his head. It was a stark contrast against the bright summery green of the leaves in the tree. And was it just him, or was that thing getting…closer?

Now more curiously bewildered than anything, Ron propped himself up on his elbows and focused in on the dark shape above him. His eyes went wide in surprise and the gasp stuck in his throat as realization dawned on him.

"Gaaahhhh!" he yelped, scrambling to his feet to get away from the looming figure. He nearly toppled over Harry in the process.

"What? What's going on?"

Harry, who had been dozing peacefully, jumped to his feet at the sight of Ron's panic-stricken face. He whipped his wand out of his back pocket, ready for combat. His eyes darted around the area predatorily.

"That damn spider over there nearly landed on my face!" Ron shouted anxiously, stretching the truth slightly. He pointed to the offending creature. The spider was still going about its own business of making a descent as if nothing had happened.

Harry's shoulders sagged with relief and he sighed heavily, letting his wand arm fall to his side. He was thankful the situation wasn't serious, but gave Ron a reproachful look for scaring him anyway.

"Is that all? Just a spider?" He folded his arms over his chest in disbelief. The only thing that betrayed his otherwise serious demeanor was the slight twitch of his lips, which suggested a grin he was trying to suppress. "You had me thinking a gang of Death Eaters just apparated here to do me in or something."

"Yeah, well…" Ron trailed off, shifting his gaze to the ground. He ruffled his hair in chagrin. "It just kind of surprised me, that's all. You know how I hate spiders. Nearly pissed myself back in second year in that forest. They're…well, they're scary little buggers, the damned things," he finished with a shudder.

"But Ron, it's not even that big. It's only about the size of a walnut I'd say."

"You call a spider the size of a walnut _not even_ _that big_?" Ron retorted, his voice cracking at the end. His eyes widened as Harry inched towards it. He prodded the spider with his wand until it crawled onto the tip and clutched it with its long, spindly legs.

"What are you doing?" the red head inquired warily as Harry placed the spider down just a few feet away from him. He shuffled back uneasily.

"I'm moving it so you don't go into a tizzy." Harry countered wryly. "We can't have you running around like a bloody maniac, can we?"

"Hey! I'm not too fond of them," Ron began, pointedly ignoring the sarcastic eye roll and grin Harry shot him. "But if you think I'm going to waste valuable energy running from that stupid thing then-"

Ron stopped abruptly, finally taking notice of the mischievous gleam in Harry's eyes. Something in the impish grin told him that he wouldn't like whatever he was thinking, and that it could only mean one thing for him: trouble.

"Uh…Harry?" Ron ventured hesitantly, licking his chapped lips out of nervous habit. "Are you alright?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

"You look like you're about to pull something. And some horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach is telling me I should run."

Harry's "I'm-up-to-no-good" grin increased ten-fold at this statement.

"_This is really mean and I probably shouldn't do it,"_ he briefly reflected, weighing the consequences._ "Ron'll be pissed and might not talk to me for some odd hours, but…"_

"_Engorgio!_" Harry bellowed, directing the spell at the idle spider on the ground. Ron's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as the walnut-sized spider swelled to roughly the equivalent of a quaffle.

Leaving Harry's gleeful peals of laughter in the background, Ron tore off in the opposite direction, swearing like a sailor until he was a long and safe distance away from the oversized arthropod. He came to a screeching halt and hunched over, hands on his knees and panting from his quick dash.

"You tosser!" he yelled breathlessly to Harry who was still sniggering rather stupidly from across the yard. The intensity of his scowl only increased. "I can't believe you did that!"

"It was just a joke!" the still-quaking boy yelled back around another bout of laughter.

"Well it damn well wasn't funny!"

"Oh lighten up, Ron. You need to get over your fear of spiders." Harry shouted across the garden, having finally composed himself enough to speak reasonably. "Besides," he added, smirking. "I think it likes you."

Ron's initial puzzled frown quickly disappeared, and was replaced by a look of sheer horror as he realized the overgrown spider was now scuttling in his direction.

"Oh shit!" he swore, his eyes going comically wide once again. You could count on less than one hand how many seconds it took for it to click in Ron's mind that he should run.

He careened through the Burrow's backyard, jumping over plants, vegetable patches, and rosebushes like an expert athlete, his fly away ginger hair tailing after him. He vaguely registered that he was heading directly towards Harry, who was busy stifling another chuckle at Ron's expense. He had his eyes closed, glasses off, and was nearly bent over double with the effort.

Not even bothering to look back and see whether the spider was still on his tail, Ron continued at a dead run, nearly stumbling over his undone shoelaces on the way. Only twenty feet away from Harry, and not thinking, he didn't stop.

Harry straightened up and wiped a mirthful tear from his eye. He reached down and began to polish away the smudges on his glasses with his shirttail.

Ten feet. Still not thinking.

The world came into focus as he slid the thick frames back up his nose, still grinning like a cat that got into the cream.

Five feet. This close, and still not thinking.

That grin soon fizzled into a surprised frown as he realized how alarmingly close Ron was to running into him.

Zero feet, and still not thinking or even realizing what he was doing, the breathless red head jumped into Harry's arms.

And not quite realizing just what he was doing either, with seeker-quick reflexes, Harry caught Ron deftly.

Surprised blue and emerald eyes met. Baffled brains turned into mush. Thoughts lost all coherency. And then there was nothing but a painfully awkward silence.

Well this was…odd.

It seemed as if Harry's body had went numb and he was frozen in time in this single moment, with Ron nestled in his arms like a bride being carried off to her honeymoon suite. He noticed, with slight apprehension that he was even noticing in the first place, that Ron's eyes were flecked with minor traces of green. Some odd voice in the back of his head said, "Pretty." before he could push it away it. He also realized just how many freckles Ron had. Each one seemed magnified a thousand times and was staring him right in the face. _"But then again, I've never been this close to him before,"_ he mentally justified. He was once again reminded of their close proximity; he felt Ron's warm breath ghosting over his lips as he struggled to catch his breath again. A tingling sensation ran up and down Harry's spine.

"Uh…" Ron garbled unintelligently, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them. Again he licked his lips nervously.

"Uh, yeah," Harry muttered, echoing his friend's nonsensical sentiments. His eyes mechanically followed Ron's tongue as it snaked out across his lips, almost as if it were in slow motion.

"_Ohhhh God."_

He mentally slapped himself and rolled his eyes as he felt his face grow hot. He felt an unusual sensation of both awe and satisfaction however as he realized Ron's face was flushed too. Something stirred in the pit of his stomach.

"You can put me down now, Harry," Ron spoke hoarsely, barely above a whisper. Contradicting his own words, Ron's arms remained firmly hooked around Harry's neck.

"Yeah, you are kind of, um…you are getting kinda heavy." Harry replied in an oddly hollow voice.

But neither boy made a move to let go.

If Ron's face was close before, their noses were nearly pressed together now as Harry felt himself drawing closer and closer to him. He noticed with both surprise and strange joy that Ron wasn't backing away from his slow advance. In fact, even more to his bewilderment, Ron was actually leaning in too.

Checking his eyes for reassurance, he saw the same cloud of mixed emotions Harry figured was mirrored in his own. He couldn't find anything that clearly said no and proceeded with his slow advance.

He gasped, feeling the warm and tender flesh of Ron's lips just barely touch his own. Harry's confidence level rose, relieved that he hadn't slugged him yet or run away screaming. At last he relaxed and let his eyelids flutter close, tentatively leaning in to brush their lips together again, and to taste what he had suddenly been given a forbidden craving for.

"Oy, Harry! Ron! Mum says to come in and get washed up for supper!" Ginny hollered, suddenly appearing at the back door and wiping her hands on a bright yellow dish towel. "She made your favorite dish Har…what are you two _doing_?"

Previously lost in a trance, Harry's eyes snapped open in surprise at the abrupt disturbance. His reflexive reactions kicking in, he brusquely relinquished his hold on Ron. He flinched at the audible _thunk! _and groan of pain he heard at his feet, but for once pushed away the urge to help his friend up. At the moment, he had a disquieting blue gaze fixed upon him that he had to deal with.

"Uh, wait! Ginny, I swear it's not what it looks like," Harry stumbled head-first into the sentence, shifting his eyes every which way as if a suitable explanation would appear out of thin air to save him. "Me and Ron, you see. Me and Ron we were just, er…playing this staring game. Yeah, you know, see who caves and blinks first." he finished lamely, grappling at straws for something apt to say.

"Right." Ginny replied flatly, not at all convinced. "So you were playing this 'staring game' with your eyes closed, huh?"

"Well, uh, you see…"

"And you had to hold him in your arms so you could get close enough and see whether he blinked or not, right?" she supplied, still not relenting the uncomfortable deadpan stare she was directing at the squirming Harry. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped a flip flop-clad foot impatiently, waiting for an answer.

"…Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"Of course I would, just as soon as Voldemort sends you an invitation to a Death Eater party and does the Hustle with Dumbledore." Ginny retorted, rolling her eyes in mild exasperation.

Harry winced. The sarcasm was pretty hard to miss.

"You know what?" she sighed, closing her eyes and waving her hands in front of her as if it would erase the whole situation from her memory. "I don't even want to know what just went on between you two. Okay? I wasn't even here. I saw nothing."

Shaking her head, Ginny turned on her heel to head back into the house.

"Yeah, nothing happened." Harry agreed aloud as the words echoed vacantly in his head. _"Nothing happened. Nothing happened."_

He barely managed to hear her mutter, "Everyone's gone mad in this house," before she disappeared back into the kitchen in a flurry of ginger hair. The back door promptly snapped shut, and Harry was once again left to stand alone in the unnervingly still silence, save for Ron at his feet that is.

…Oh yeah. Ron.

Chancing a glance at him, but not daring to meet his eyes, Harry found him still sprawled on the ground and gazing up at him with curious blue eyes. He solemnly stuck out his hand in a silent gesture to help him up, Ron hesitantly taking it. He stood and brushed off the absent grass blades stuck to him.

Unsaid words hung heavily in the air, building momentum like an impending storm, but no one dared to break the silence yet. They peeked at each other shyly, but quickly looked away when they were caught and settled for staring at their shoes. Only Merlin knew where the spider was by now, but neither of them really cared at the moment. Almost a minute passed.

"…Well I guess that's what Ginny gets for borrowing my Cleansweep Wednesday without asking."

Despite what just happened, Harry fell back into an easy grin with surprising quickness, relieved that the awkward silence had been broken. He looked at Ron who was smiling softly.

"I guess so. She didn't seem all that disgusted though. It took me by surprise honestly."

"Yeah, well," Ron began, ruffling his already-mussed hair. "She's seen weirder stuff than that. She's been walking in on some hairy situations ever since she was eight years old. I'll never forget the time mum and dad had to give her 'The Talk' and tell her about Charlie's preferences after she walked in on him and one of his boyfriends. Dad got real hot under the collar and yelled at him about the importance of locking spells and silencing charms and stuff."

Harry laughed.

"I don't know. I guess that stuff just isn't a big deal to her anymore." Ron finished.

A moment passed.

A flock of birds flew overhead.

Harry coughed.

Ron scratched his nose.

And then there was that silence between them again. Harry was just starting to feel uncomfortable all over again when–

"What just happened between us?" Ron asked with all the sobriety in the world.

And now Harry did feel uncomfortable. What _had_ happened? They almost kissed for crying out loud. Good friends don't kiss each other, especially if they were guys, and _especially_ if those two guys were Harry and Ron. It was completely unorthodox. And yet strangely, Harry had wanted to and he was pretty sure Ron had too, seeing as he hadn't socked him a good one when he started to lean in. Maybe Ginny was right. Maybe everyone in this house _is_ mad.

"I don't know, Ron. I don't know." he said quietly, looking at the ground.

"Maybe someone put us under the Imperius Curse." Ron teased lightly.

Harry snorted and he gave a faint smile at the crazy remark, but it was gone just as quickly as he grew serious again. He contemplated Ron for a moment. With an air of sudden determination, he stepped unnervingly close to him, barely leaving a breath of space between them.

"What are you–"

"Shhh." Harry quieted him, deciding this was a do-or-die moment. He calmly placed his hands on Ron's hips, leaving the other to take up the position of the girl by putting his hands on Harry's shoulders. Under normal circumstances, Ron probably would have balked at this, but that's just it: these weren't normal circumstances. Harry leaned in slowly, looking into his eyes all the while for any signs of objection. But Ron, understanding it all, merely closed his eyes and filled the gap.

When their lips met, faeries didn't start caroling in the background and the ground stayed still. Cheesy romantic muggle music didn't fill the air either. The kiss wasn't completely perfect because their noses bumped a little bit, but it was perfectly fine for Harry. The warm spot he felt growing outward in his chest and the little tingle in his fingertips and toes confirmed it. He never thought he'd say this but…kissing Ron almost felt like flying. Exhilarating, liberating, a little dangerous even.

When they finally pulled back, Ron was a little hazy-eyed but he smiled reassuringly, saying in what he perceived as a dashing manner, "We must do this again sometime." Harry just roared and clouted him on the shoulder, laughing even more as Ron pretended to look indignant and playfully shoved him away. The whole debonair act never really did work for him, poor thing.

They slowly ambled back towards the house.

"I bet mum's all twitchy wondering why we're taking so long to come in the house for dinner. Probably thinks we got attacked by a bunch of nifflers or something."

Harry chuckled, sniffing the air and picking up the scent of Mrs. Weasley's signature pot roast.

And then: "So what does this whole thing mean now? What'll happen when we go back to school?" Ron asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"I'm not sure. I guess I'd like to stay mates if it's all the same to you. I think it'd be a bit too weird holding your hand, buying you chocolates in Hogsmead, and calling you my boyfriend and stuff like that, you know?"

Ron laughed appreciatively, nodding his head in agreement. He waited a beat.

"Doesn't mean we can't find an empty classroom and snog though," Ron grinned saucily, roughly tugging Harry forward by his shirt into another long, fervent kiss.

**The End**

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**Author's Note:  
**So I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. For those who are waiting for an update on Insomnia, I'm not quite sure when that'll be up, but hey: didn't I promise to post this as a little side treat if I didn't have it up soon? See, I kept one promise at least. : ) 

Now there's just one thing left for you to do...REVIEW! (Pretty plz...w/ a naked Harry and Ron on top?)


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